food prices

Global food costs moved lower again for the 11th consecutive month.  The Financial Post says while consumers are still spending more for food, prices are at their lowest level in the last 17 months.  The UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s Food Price Index dropped 0.6% in February,...

Economic Research Service publishes its price forecasts in the monthly Food Price Outlook report.  The FPO forecasts food-at-home prices will increase by 8.6% in 2023, with a prediction interval of 5.6%-11%.  Forecasts now include a midpoint and a prediction interval to represent the expected price change and range of likely prices. The pred...

A month ago, USDA economists were forecasting grocery store food prices would rise in 2023 by about 3.5%-4.5%, a significant drop from the 11%+ we saw last year.  But now instead of 4%, " is forecasting an 8% increase in prices.”   USDA...

According to ERS, the value of U.S. agricultural imports grew an average of 4% a year between fiscal years 2012 and 2022.  Total U.S. agricultural imports rose from $139 billion to $194 billion, with growth concentrated in select commodity groups.  Horticu...

You may have noticed, while general inflationary numbers eased a bit last month, food prices continued their steady march higher in December.  General inflation slowed in December to 6.5% a year, down slightly from the 7% reported in November.  But USD...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this week that the Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.5% in December when seasonally adjusted.  The index measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output.  Final d...

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s Food Price Index dropped during December, but 2022 food prices were 18% higher year-over-year.  The December index averaged 132.4 points, 2.6 points below November, the ninth-straight monthly decline.  The December ...

Cargill’s CEO said he expects food prices to decline in 2023.  Yahoo said that’s despite tight global crop stockpiles, especially in oilseeds.  David MacLennan, Cargill CEO, said the solution to the food versus fuel debate is to boost global crop commodity production.   “We don’t think i...

U.S. produce growers require a lot of labor, but they face a labor crisis in getting enough workers in the field and the packing houses.  Little Bear Produce, a grower-packer-shipper from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, grows various food crops.  Br...

Statistics Canada has released its latest economic indicators report. In September the country’s overall inflation rate was just under 7%, a near repeat of the August report. But Canadian food costs continue to rise. Prices in grocery stores rose to about 11.5%, a...